Everything is bigger in Texas.
Especially the need for change.
An acronym for Building Resourced Infrastructure for Diverse Grassroots Engagement, BRIDGE Movements Fund (BRIDGE) is a state-based civic engagement innovation hub creating, supporting, and guiding the next generation of social entrepreneurs in Texas. Progress starts here.
Our state ranks 44th in voter registration and 47th in voter turnout in the United States. Because of our geographic size – you could fit 3 Georgias, 6 Ohios, or 2 Arizonas inside Texas’ massive borders – our scale means we need more year-round organizers, more grassroots organizations, and more leaders fighting for democracy and justice.
We know the best solutions to our most challenging issues are already in our communities. Most of these new ideas are being led by Black, Latino/a/x, queer, trans, and young people. Yet as startup nonprofit organizations, coalitions, or concepts, these leaders and their important work are under-funded, under-resourced, under-capacity, and overlooked.
BRIDGE is changing this dynamic, one democracy and justice startup at a time. New women, Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC), and queer founders can feel disconnected from the movement and funder ecosystem, encounter unique early obstacles that threaten their projects’ success, and need the space to experiment and fail-forward to improve their program impact. That’s why BRIDGE’s unique model is perfectly designed to serve founders and new community organizing work from Day One.
